Whoa! Keanu goes Samurai in 47 Ronin

Posted by LiveFor on November 18, 2009

Universal Pictures is near a deal with ad man Carl Erik Rinsch to make his feature directing debut on 47 Ronin, the epic period samurai swordsmen tale that will star Keanu Reeves. Yes I know a Ronin is a masterless Samurai.

Rinsch is the commercial director who was due to direct the Alien prequel before his father in law (I’m sure he’s married to or going out with Scott’s daughter), Ridley Scott, decided to head back to the facehuggers.

Rinsch is known for shooting visual and stylish ads for such brands as Mercedes, Sprite, BMW and Heineken.

47 Ronin tells the famous fact-based story of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (became ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzukeno suke. The ronin avenged their master’s honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku — as they had known they would be — for committing the crime of murder. A happy tale indeed.

According to Variety, the Chris Morgan (“Wanted”) script was tailored so that the half-Asian Reeves can play one of the swordsmen. The picture mixes the fantastical elements of films like “The Lord of the Rings” with battle scenes of the sort found in “Gladiator” and “300.”

It all sounds good. Nothing like a load of Samurai fighting it out on the big screen. Plus Keanu’s acting style should be well suited playing a stoic Samurai warrior – although it does all sound a bit like The Last Samurai. Not sure how the film can have fantastical elements like Lord of the Rings, but maybe there will just be lots of wire work and stuff like that.

What do you think of the sound of 47 Ronin? Will Keanu work in it? Is first timer Carl Rinsch the right choice to direct?